


Like a Palace in the East

by peregrinning



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 21:05:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10227317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peregrinning/pseuds/peregrinning
Summary: Write-up of an extended scene in the hospital after Riza wakes up, knowing that Roy had been blinded the night before.





	

Riza sat up slowly in her hospital bed in a patch of hazy sunlight. She guessed it was late morning of the day following the battle at Headquarters. Her shoulder had been healed but she was still weak from the blood loss. And weak, she knew, from her fears and her heartache.

Because Roy was blind, ohhh...he was blind. And he would have to retire and she didn’t know what she’d do if she couldn’t work always at his side. And because she would never feel his eyes see right to the centre of her again. Not many people could do that, look right into you and know what you were feeling. He had been able to, but perhaps without his eyes he wouldn’t be able to any more. And somehow she already missed the comforting discomfort of that piercing gaze.

And her heart broke not just for herself but for him. He’d always been strong, independent, with such dreams! He’d always seen the best strategy, seen injustices, seen the hard truths. But his sight was gone, and he’d never see beauty again. 

She wondered where he was. She hadn’t seen him since she had nearly passed out after the battle, the exhaustion and pain catching up to her suddenly, breaking over her like a wave. She missed him. She wanted to know if he was all right.

A soft voice interrupted her thoughts; one of the nurses.

“Lieutenant Hawkeye? There’s someone here to see you.”

She looked up to the doorway and saw him. Her mouth fell open, her breath caught in her throat. It had to be a dream. Because in front of her stood Roy, whole and healed, his dark eyes alight, an uneven smirk on his face as he saw-he saw!- her reaction.

The nurse left them and he walked over and took seat on the stool next to the bed. He waited for her to speak; and she did, though it wasn’t her most eloquent. In fact, she started to cry, tears running down her cheeks though her voice remained relatively steady.

“Colonel...I don’t understand! I thought you were blind, I was so afraid. How can you see?”

He smiled as he answered, a sure smile, one that said _I have seen all the knowledge of the world, and still choose to take what joys I can find_. He answered, “Dr Marcoh gave me a Philosopher’s Stone he had, and I used it to reclaim my sight. He asked only in exchange that I pledge to re-establish a home for the Ishvalans and let him live there with them. I agreed. I’m not so noble as to not use a Stone if I could...and I’m glad I did. It’s worth it to see that you are recovering.”

She started crying harder then, her fears now replaced with such happiness that the only outlet for everything she had been feeling and now felt was her tears. He seemed to understand and she recovered momentarily.

“I feel so happy that you can see again, Colonel. I was so afraid that you would have to retire...and then what would I do? What would I do if I couldn’t be your lieutenant?” she ended in a whisper, well aware that she had almost never told him such fears before.

He laughed and said, “You’ll always be my second, Lieutentant. Even if I did have to retire, I would hope you’d find a way to still see me.”

And then his voice and demeanour, even his eyes, his beautiful eyes, changed suddenly, became filled with intensity. 

“At least, I hope you would always be my second...Riza,” and her name in his voice, not heard for so long, was like a caress, “Because I want you always to be by my side”.

“You aren’t like any other woman I’ve known. I admire you, respect you, your loyalty, your intelligence, your skills. When I thought I would lose you, I have never been more afraid, or felt more helpless”. His eyes were filled with remembered pain and she held herself still.

“I’ve wanted you more than I’ve wanted any other woman, wanted you since we were both young,” he continued, his voice now husky, “I love you, Riza Hawkeye, more than anything, anything else”. 

“I love you too, Roy,” she finally admitted, years of feeling behind the words.

He shuffled closer, placing his lips on hers. The kiss was gentle, at first, slow and warm. But their remembered fears for one another, their bottled up feelings and desires soon meant that they deepened the kiss, only pulling away when they both realised how weak she still was.

“Riza” he said again, and she laughed.

“Do you like saying my name?”

“Yes,” he answered, “because I couldn’t before. Because I knew that if I did, it would be so very obvious to anyone that I loved you. You will have to forgive me, the farce must continue for now, my Lieutenant. But only in public. I swear, when were are alone together, I want to be with you”.

“I want that too,” she said and took his hand. They sat there together, in the military hospital, which was somehow a palace as light and airy and still as the ancient ones in the East, in the sunlight of the new morning.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this love-confession scene a while ago. I've since changed my mind about these two, I now am of the mind that they were covertly together for the whole series! ...but never mind, it's a guilty pleasure to read a confession scene and a kiss anyway. I hope you enjoy it.


End file.
